


and i have built a home (for you, for me)

by commonemergency



Category: Dan Howell & Phil Lester - Fandom, Dan Howell - Fandom, Phan, Phil Lester - Fandom, dan and phil, dan howell/phil lester - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, Love, M/M, Moving, holy shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 03:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10732974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commonemergency/pseuds/commonemergency
Summary: Dan and Phil share one last moment in their apartment before the big move.





	and i have built a home (for you, for me)

**Author's Note:**

> Dan and Phil are moving and I'm emotional about it. 
> 
> I've been watching them since they moved into that apartment and I needed to vent about it. 
> 
> Also, it's one of my favourite people's birthday so this is for them also! What a day to be alive. 
> 
> Happy birthday, Sarah, my pocket buddy.

**i.**

 

“We made a lot of things here,” Phil says as they have the last of their boxes in the living room, in a sort of pile on the floor that they’ll have to clean up after they move the last of the boxes. It’s a lot of cleaning up actually- they spent all night cleaning the floors, the hidden messes they’ve made through the five years of living here, but they had yet to clean the lounge. While their bedrooms were a pivotal part of them, the lounge was special not only to them but the viewers who had grown accustomed to and learned to love and find comfort in by videos and liveshows uploaded on the internet. 

It’s the spot of many parties thrown and many tears shed, summer and winter nights of lying on the floor and bundled up on the couch to keep warm. Friends would come over and some would stay the night not because they had to but because they wanted to. It’s a place that had felt like home if at all possible, because living in London it was hard to feel like home when you’re sharing such a broad city with millions of others. 

Phil slides to the floor, his back against the bare wall, he was sweating from having to go up and down the stairs numerous of times today, Dan grabs his water bottle and joins him, his hair is exceptionally curly today. He places his hands on his knees. They’re quiet for a long time, no other sound but the one’s coming from neighbours. Two are arguing over about who’s taking the dog out, the other’s music is loud and Dan can hear the sound of an instrumental, from the outside people are working on the same project for two years and then there’s the sound of a siren going off in the distance. They have to laugh at each other, it was one of the reasons why they wanted to move, and while they were happy about moving there was some sort of unsettle feeling about seeing the place so bare. 

“These walls have seen a lot,” Dan agrees, taking a drink from the water and handing it to Phil. 

“It’s weird isn’t it? One day we’re sitting around in that tiny flat in Manchester and the next we’re moving our boxes and bean bags into this one which at the time seemed a little too big.” They were much younger then, _London could have swallowed them whole_ , Dan had said once. 

“Yeah- but moving from Manchester to London was easy. We picked the worst month to move, sure, but I was ready to leave Manchester,” Dan shrugged his shoulders now, he stretches his legs out and bumps a box with his foot, it had the rest of their DVD’s and video games and consoles sitting in it. 

Phil had taken another breath, his fingers tapping against the water bottle. They were both thinking it, probably not at the same time, but over the course of moving, it was hard not to forget the achievements made in this house. 

Where they were sitting was where the couch used to sit, they had plotted the first few sentences of a book, the end of Dan’s feet would have been where the coffee table sat had numerous of drinks from people that had come over, the walls echoed conversations that they’ll never get back again but will always remember. The fireplace had been lit numerous of times over the course of winter and Dan and Phil would sit back to back on their phones, laptops, reading a book and reminiscing about the day. The bookcase which held numerous of DVD’s given to each other as presents held also trinkets from fans, a picture of Dan and his Dog Colin and a peripheral view of a muse poster hanging on the wall. 

If you were to search the house there’d be ghosts of all the memories they’ve made and things that would be left behind. They were in the office when they first started thinking about the possibility of the book, the window knew more things than everyone would ever know about Dan and Phil and it’d be whisked away never to be heard again. 

Because at the end of the day, whether it was a tour, a radio show, a youtube event, a night out they had always come back to this apartment, where everything was in it’s right place and it was safe and it was home. 

“It’s just a vessel, you know?” Dan had patted Phil on the knee. While it was difficult in the beginning for Dan, having to pack his room up, everything have some sort of sentimental value, Phil had took it a little differently even though he also was ready to move. It was just how they worked. 

“It’s just a place until someone comes along and gives it meaning,” Dan concludes, getting up and offering his hand for Phil to take. 

“We outgrew this place a long time ago,” Dan reaches over and cuffs Phil’s cheek before dropping his hand and softly laughing, “sounds cheesy now that I thought about it but- we’ll make more memories. Just not here,”

Dan and Phil give each other one last look, they’re smiling at each other knowing at the end of the day they have each other, and that’s what made this apartment a home in the first place. They grab a box each and work their way down the flight of stairs ready to head to their new home.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments/Kudos appreciated! 
> 
> Chat with me on tumblr or twitter: @nihilismdan


End file.
